Tun's First "Real" Grow - Hydro - AK-47 - Blueberry - Chocolope

[Da Tun]

Hello All! This is my first journal as well as my first time posting on any kind of online forum so bear with me, hopefully I'll get everything figured out in time.

All comments, suggestions, questions, etc. are very welcome.
I'm here to learn, I've already learned so much from this site and all the awesome people here and I'm looking forward to learning a whole lot more. Many thanks to all of you out there willing to help out the newbies, you guys rock!

I say in the title, first "real" grow, because I did do a couple of grows close to twenty years ago. It was just some bag seed in cheap potting soil with really crappy fluorescent shop lights (this was before the days of CFLs). I didn't know what the hell I was doing and although it wasn't a complete failure, it was far from successful.

I'm amazed at all the great information on here, I've been cruising the site, absorbing as much as I can over the last few months and I'm ready to give it another try.


Here are some basic stats:
Strains- AK-47, Blueberry, Chocolope.
Hydro
GH Flora series nutes
600W MH for veg HPS for flower
Cool Tube w/ Reflector hood
6" inline fan
Room size ~ 3'x3'x6'


I'm actually already about a month in to the grow, I'll try and get some pics up later today once I figure out how, and get all caught up over the next few days with more pics and such. Cheers!


On a side note - this is a fully legal and registered MMJ grow...

 

[Da Tun]

re: Tun's First "Real" Grow - Hydro - AK-47 - Blueberry - Chocolope

Day 1
They Live!!!
Here are a couple of pics right after they sprouted.

I only started three seeds, one of each strain and lucked out by having them all germ.
BTW, I think I forgot to mention in the last post that these are feminized seeds so, not worried about males but I'll definitely be watching like a hawk for hermies come flowering time.. lol!

To germinate I just soaked the seeds in water for 24 hrs, put them in the float tray with a humidity dome and heating pad, filled with RO water and about 2 or 3 days later all 3 seeds popped. Then I removed the dome, turned off the heat and put them under 4 or 5 small CFLs for the time being til I could finish setting up the main grow area.

The plugs I used came with the tray, not sure what brand they are but they seemed to do the job..


Soon to be grow room

I didn't have the room or structural support to hang my fan and filter from the ceiling so it's just sitting on the floor.. not the best situation, I know, but it seems to be working for now. I'm planning on moving some things around soon to make more room.

More to come soon...Cheers!

 

[Da Tun]

Day 5

All three had roots showing at this point so I figured I'd move them to the main light.

I was planning on putting them in an elaborate setup with separate containers, controller bucket, recirc pump, etc but after putting it all together, (apparently, I'm not much of a plumber) there were too many leaks and I just got frustrated gave up.. thought abut the KISS principle and just put them in a tote I had laying around.

Day 7

Day 9

AK_47

Chocolope

Blueberry

Day 16

Ak

Choco

Blue

Day 25

So far, so good..

Left to right: AK, Bue,Choco

Almost caught up, I moved them to individual bubble buckets last week and started some training. I'll try and get the pics up tomorrow.

 

[Dan Ultra]

Looking good mate! Welcome to 420Mag!!

CFL's can get a lot closer for maximum lumen output. 2" or so from the plant. Also, the curly CFL's put out most of their lumens on the sides, not the tops. So try mounting like this instead.

 

[Da Tun]

Hi Dan, thanks for the welcome and the info!

Luckily, they were only under the CFLs for a few days. :icon_cool


Day 27
Moved them out of the bin and into their big girl homes

left: Choco, bottom: Blue, right: AK

Day 29
The were getting a little leafy, so I decided to do some defoliating...

Choco before:

Choco after:

Blue before:

Blue after:

AK before:

AK after:

Then it was time for a little light bondage with the ladies...

The fishing line was all I had lying around...I made sure to use a heavy, 25 or 30 lb test. I feel like anything much lighter might cut or dig into the plant, Ill probably get some gardening wire or something eventually but this seems to be working for now.

 

[Dan Ultra]

I would stay away from fishing line period. Even thin gardening wire will decapitate your plants. Just a warning

 

[Dan Ultra]

Everything's looking good, I think the order of your pictures might've got a little mixed up, but I kinda figured it out. Lol.

 

[Da Tun]

I would stay away from fishing line period. Even thin gardening wire will decapitate your plants. Just a warning

Ha, I hear ya. I almost did exactly that the other day when I was working with them. Luckily, I was able to save the branch but will definitely be getting some string or something next time I'm at the store. lol!

 

[Da Tun]

Day 40
More training and second defol.
I think i'm going to veg for another week or so and then start flowering

Here are pics of the AK and Choco before defol.(forgot to get a pic of the blueberry...)

AK-47:

Chocolope:

I've been looking for something to attach to the bucket lids as anchor points to tie things down, came across these self stick cup hooks in my junk drawer. they work surprisingly well! :

Group shot after defol:
AK:top, Blue:bottom, Choco:right

 

[Dan Ultra]

I use this. It is nice and rigid and holds it's shape really well. You can wrap a big loop around the stems so it doesn't choke them out as the grow. Available in the garden center at most hardware stores (Lowe's, Home Depot)

 

[Da Tun]

So everything's been going pretty smoothly up to now but when defoliating yesterday I noticed some brown spots on a few of the Chocolope leaves...

After looking around online at some of the pictures and charts I think it may be calcium deficiency? I'm using GH nutes at about 3/4 strength. Should I get a Cal-Mag supplement?
Or could it be my PH? I realized that I've been keeping it pretty steady around 5.7-5.9 so I'm going to start to let it drift a bit higher.
Any advice is appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[Dan Ultra]

Are you using RO water? If not what is the PPM of the water you are using? 5.9+ and you wont be absorbing Calcium anymore.

 

[Da Tun]

My internet has been a little spotty lately so I haven't been able to post in a while, but things are still going well, everybody seems happy and healthy!

Dan, to answer your question, I'm not using RO water but the water I am using is really soft, around 10 ppm before nutes. I went ahead and picked up some Cal-Mag last week and that's made a big difference, no more brown spots and they even seem to be growing more vigorously...or maybe that's just wishful thinking! lol


Day 47

Here is a pic from last week after some defoliating: left-Choco, right-AK, bottom-Blue:

Day 52

And here they are yesterday, just 5 days later..they sure do bounce back fast!

They're really starting to drink a lot of water, especially Choco. She's going through over 3/4 gallon everyday, the others are around 1/2 gallon.

Here's a shot of the Choco root ball:

They all seem to be growing pretty typical of their strain from what I've read/been told.

The Blueberry is very much showing her indica dominance - short, dense and bushy with super tight node spacing. I never topped it, it's on it's 12th or 13th node set and is still only about 8 inches tall. It's gonna be a PITA to keep a level canopy during flowering

The Chocolope is the opposite, almost 100% sativa, it's branching out like crazy and is definitely the biggest and tallest of the bunch. I topped it at the 7th node and have been doing some "super cropping" to try and keep it somewhat under control.

AK-47 is right in the middle. I think it's supposed to be about 70/30% sativa dominant and is definitely taller and branching out more than the Blue, but the leaves seem a little fatter and indica like.


Time to start flowering!
I switched the timer over to 12/12 yesterday so today is day 53 from seed and...
Day 1 of flowering

I'm super excited, cant wait to see how things turn out!!!

 

[Dan Ultra]

Looking really good brother!

 

[Da Tun]

Looking really good brother!

Thanks man, same to you.
I was checking out your journal today, love that flux! I read a bunch of Light Addict's threads before I got started, that guy can definitely grow some monsters. Looks like you're on your way to one yourself!

 

[Dan Ultra]

Thanks man, same to you.
I was checking out your journal today, love that flux! I read a bunch of Light Addict's threads before I got started, that guy can definitely grow some monsters. Looks like you're on your way to one yourself!

Yes he can!! I am hoping for one, but there is still a lot of time let. lol. It is just for personal use, so I'll be happy with enough to get me through my next grow.

Fluxing is a lot of fun and gets you up close and personal with your girls. I highly recommend it.

 

[Da Tun]

About three weeks in to flower now and everything still seems to be going fairly well!

Here are some pics from the last few weeks

Day 6 of flower:


Blue:

AK:

Choco:

Day 14

Switched out the MH for the HPS bulb...looks weird, I'm still getting used to the color change in the grow room.lol:icon_cool
They're definitely filling in the space well!

Group shot:
AK-top left, Blue-bottom left, and Choco has pretty much taken over the entire right side!

I decided to take some clones before I got too far along in flowering.
Wasn't originally planning on it but figured why not, if any survive great, but if not, no big deal...
I just threw together a little grow area under a shelf with what I had lying around. If they root I guess I'll have to set a up a veg room.

Day 20 (yesterday)

First defol during flower.

Blue before:

Blue after:

AK before:

AK after:

Choco before:

Choco after:

Some gratuitous flower shots:

Cheers, til next time!

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.